Who will raise 7-year-old Ava?

Mar. 8, 2013

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Ava Sangavaram continues to recover from stab wounds inflicted by her mother in a vicious attack in their New City home.

But what happens to the 7-year-old once she leaves the Westchester hospital where she has been treated since the Feb. 28 stabbing that preceded her mother’s suicide is less clear.

Carol Barbash, director of legal affairs for the Rockland Department of Social Services, declined to comment on the girl and plans for her future.

Ava’s father, Dr. Kristappa Sangavaram, a 68-year-old anesthesiologist who lives in New Jersey, declined to discuss plans for his child.

The law is clear about custody when there is a surviving parent, Barbash said.

“The law gives both parents equal rights to the child’s custody,” Barbash said. “For a child not to be in a surviving parent’s custody, a third party would have to intervene and show that there are extraordinary reasons why the parent should not have custody.”

A parent does have the option of allowing someone else to have guardianship of a child.

“That can happen when a parent is unable or unwilling to care for a child,” Barbash said. “Sometimes a family gets together and decides that’s the best option.”